"The sixth edition of O'Reilly Media's annual Where 2.0 conference wrapped yesterday, possibly the most exciting and definitely the most widely attended edition to date. The premise was consistent with that of previous years: citizen map-making democratizes our world, location is pervasive, and we can be assured of the financial value of geographic data and location-aware advertising. But there was something else going on, too, something new, complex and big: the realization that we need to build services that let people manipulate their world, not just learn about it." —Di-Ann Eisnor, GigaOM

"Where 2.0 is a unique gathering that mixes together the usual geo-suspects with a potent mix of Silicon Valley strivers and curious IT folks. This year attendance is back up to just shy of 1000 and the venue is packed full. There is nothing like the psychology of a full room to get people buzzing." —Paul Ramsey, OpenGeo

"Three days of packed presentations by amazingly smart, passionate people. They are here to share their ideas with others and build upon their successes to make new applications and new ways of doing things. It is really interesting to see the supportive and sharing atmosphere working to drive the technology." —Stephanie Tamar Ayanian, Geospatial Revolution Project

"So this year's Where 2.0 in a sentence: location technology can help people have fun, and it can also just plain help people. Good news all around." —Paul Ramsey, OpenGeo

"Nokia…at the Where 2.0 Conference in San Jose, CA, the world's biggest event focused on exploring location based services." —Carlos Silva, The S60 blog

"Where 2.0, now in its fifth year, is the tech industry's biggest showcase for the latest geo-enabled hardware and software—an area that's hit a new level of saturation as location-based tech rapidly moves into our smartphones, our laptops and, consequently, into our experience on the web." —Michael Calore, Wired.com webmonkey

"Where 2.0 is THE event for location based services and with the evolution of Maps, the perfect place to talk about what's new and exciting." —JBC, Nokia Conversations

"Many thanks indeed for an excellent conference. I was dead-impressed with the welcoming congeniality of the staff, the quality of the presentations, and smooth running of it all. Thanks for making Yahoo! a part." —Tyler Bell, Yahoo! Inc.

"A hotspot of creative thinking and investigation into what's possible in terms of location-based services today, and what's just around the corner." —Mike Cooper, Nokia

"I spent Wednesday listening to presentations about how the evolution of location-based mobile services and the geo-coding of information on the Web were changing the way we experience the Internet. It was geeky, exciting stuff." —Chris O'Brien, Mercury News Columnist

"Back to the office after a great week at #where20 and #wherecamp—looking forward to following up with lots of the great folks we met." —Sarah Manley via Twitter

"Where 2.0 was the most interesting and provocative conference I have ever attended" —John Frank, Founder and CTO, MetaCarta, Inc.

"The Where 2.0 conference is probably one of the most important meetings of the year for developers of new Web 2.0 mapping technologies." —Frank Taylor, Google Earth Blog

"I can't remember a conference I have attended in the past few years where there was just so much to take-in. [The next] Where 2.0…will be a show not to miss." —Ed Parsons, edparsons.com

"Where 2.0 was a terrific event that showcased cutting-edge technology, geo-spatial tools and advanced thinking about place and participation. It's like a sneak preview of tomorrow's consumer and enterprise applications." —Greg Sterling, Sterling Market Intelligence

"Many companies are trying to position themselves as leaders in the geolocation field this week, which makes sense since the sure-to-be-fascinating Where 2.0 conference kicks off next week." —Rafe Needleman, CNET News.com

"[Where 2.0] presentations provided a stimulating combination of cartographic history, bleeding-edge technologies (many of them still under construction), and debate over how businesses can tap into the new excitement over consumer access to geo-referenced data on the Web." —Wade Roush

Conference Highlights

The Ever-Bigger Business of Location

Location is big business. Location technologies are everywhere—in smartphones and tablets, supermarkets and ATMs, cars and urban transportation systems, brick-and-mortar stores and the Web. And location data is even bigger business: from product development to distribution, marketing, and sales, location technologies help companies identify, understand, and reach their markets with increased granularity, in real time. Getting a handle on all of this isn't easy, and it's constantly evolving.

How and where should you incorporate location technology into your products and services? What location technologies are most appropriate for your needs, and what's the right make-or-buy decision? And how will you manage, analyze, and act on all of that data? Come to Where Conference to get your questions answered.